Thomas H. Kapsalis
BornMay 31, 1925 Edit this on Wikidata
Chicago Edit this on Wikidata
DiedJuly 14, 2022 Edit this on Wikidata (aged 97)
OccupationPainter, sculptor, university teacher (1954–1975) Edit this on Wikidata
Employer
WorksEleven or K Edit this on Wikidata
Position heldinstructional staff (1954–1961), assistant professor (1961–1975), professor emeritus (1975–) Edit this on Wikidata

Thomas Harry Kapsalis (May 31, 1925 – July 14, 2022) was a professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a leading American abstract painter and sculptor.[1][2][3][4][5]

Personal life

Thomas Harry Kapsalis was born to Adamantia and Harry Kapsalis on May 31, 1925 in Chicago, Illinois.[1][4][6] He married Stella (née Manos) Kapsalis around 1956.[6] They had two children together.[6] Kapsalis was drafted into the United States Army during World War II in 1944, where he fought at the Battle of the Bulge and was captured as a prisoner of war.[6][7][2][8][9][10][11] Prior to being conscripted into the Army, he was halfway through pursuing his Bachelor's degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.[8][11]

Career

After returning from the war, Kapsalis returned to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago to earn a Bachelor's degree in 1949 and Master's degree in 1957 utilizing the G.I. Bill.[1][8][9][11] In 1956 he was an active member of the American Association of University Professors.[12] He received a Fulbright-Hays Fellowship to study with Willi Baumeister in Stuttgart from 1953-1954.[7][9][11][13] He worked as an instructor in painting and drawing at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago starting in 1954, was promoted to Assistant Professor in 1961,[14][15] and retired in 1975.[2][9] He later became a Professor Emeritus.[16]

His art work was featured in "Chicago and Vicinity" - an annual exhibition that featured work from Artists in Chicago - in 1956, 1960, 1969, and 2016.[5] In the early 1970s, Kapsalis' work was in a two-year exhibit sponsored by the Illinois Arts Council, which consisted of 4 paintings from 24 different Illinois based painters.[17]

Some have called his work that of Modernism.[7] He appreciated the work of Kathleen Blackshear and Katherine Kuh.[18] Kapsalis described the style of his work as moving from expressionistic realism to figurative abstraction and finally to non-objective abstraction. He said "I never explain my work in literal terms because I am creating something visual."[19] His abstract paintings are often quite colorful, but for a period he painted without color and only in black and white to protest the Vietnam War.[11] He continued to paint and exhibit into his 90s.[20][21]

In 2009, Kapsalis appeared as the main subject of the documentary tryphon: three sounds, produced by the CUENTOS Foundation and premiered at the Brauer Museum.[2] In that same year, he published a book titled Thomas H. Kapsalis : Artist's House : Paintings & Sculpture 1947-2008.[22]

In 2011, Kapsalis' work - along with that of Ralph Arnold, Vera Klement, Ellen Lanyon and others - was displayed in the Illinois State Museum's exhibit Luminous Ground: Artists With Histories, which was open until January 2013.[23][24] In 2013, his work was on display at the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art.[25] In 2015, his work was again exhibited at the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art in the exhibit Chicago Connection: Artists from the Post-War Period alongside Seymour Rosofsky, Eleanor Coen, and Arthur Lerner.[26][27] From January - March 2018, Kapsalis' work put on display by Art Design Chicago in an exhibit titled Thomas H. Kapsalis: Black + White, etc.[10] From May to June 2020, Kapsalis' work was displayed on an online exhibit titled Thomas H. Kapsalis: Eight Decades sponsored by Corbett vs. Dempsey in honor of Kapsalis' 95th birthday.[28]

Death

Thomas H. Kapsalis died on July 14, 2022.[6] He is buried in Elmwood Cemetery.[6]

Collections

Kapsalis' work is held in the permanent collections of the National Gallery of Art,[4] the Minneapolis Institute of Art,[29] the Art Institute of Chicago,[3] the Illinois State Museum,[18] and the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art.[30]

References

  1. 1 2 3 2000 outstanding artists and designers of the 20th century. Internet Archive. Cambridge : International Biographical Centre. 2001. p. 136. ISBN 978-0-948875-93-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  2. 1 2 3 4 "tryphon: three sounds, the art of thomas h. kapsalis | vdb.org". www.vdb.org. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  3. 1 2 "Thomas H. Kapsalis". The Art Institute of Chicago. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  4. 1 2 3 "Artist Info". www.nga.gov. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  5. 1 2 Sierzputowski, Kate (2016-03-15). "'Chicago and Vicinity' is a semi-comprehensive account of the local art scene". Chicago Reader. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Thomas H. Kapsalis". Chicago Tribune. July 17, 2022.
  7. 1 2 3 "Gregg Hertzlieb: "Thomas H. Kapsalis: 'Still Life and Cloth'"". www.valpo.edu. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  8. 1 2 3 "Life During Wartime | 150 Years of SAIC". www.saic.edu. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  9. 1 2 3 4 "Thomas H. Kapsalis". corbettvsdempsey.com. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  10. 1 2 "Thomas H. Kapsalis: Black + White, etc". Art Design Chicago. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 Gallant, Leah (2019). Wells, Grace (ed.). there for the making: thomas kapsalis at 93 (PDF). f newsmagazine, School of the Art Institute of Chicago (published May 2019). p. 7. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  12. ↑ "Membership: Classes and Conditions: Nominations and Elections". AAUP Bulletin. 42 (2): 415. 1956. ISSN 0001-026X. JSTOR 40222191.
  13. ↑ "Thomas Kapsalis - Biography". www.askart.com. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  14. ↑ Norman B. Boothby. “The School of the Art Institute: 1961.” The Art Institute of Chicago Quarterly, vol. 55, no. 2, 1961, pp. 33. JSTOR, JSTOR 4117423. Accessed 9 Jan. 2023.
  15. ↑ “The Art Rental and Sales Gallery of the Woman’s Board Exhibits John Asencio and Thomas Kapsalis.” Bulletin of the Art Institute of Chicago (1973-1982), vol. 73, no. 5/6, 1979, pp. 22–23. JSTOR, JSTOR 4104188. Accessed 9 Jan. 2023.
  16. ↑ "tkapsa". School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  17. ↑ Robbins, Eugenia S. “Art News from Colleges and Elsewhere.” Art Journal, vol. 31, no. 2, 1971, pp. 238. JSTOR, JSTOR 775580. Accessed 9 Jan. 2023.
  18. 1 2 "Untitled by Tom Kapsalis". www.museum.state.il.us. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  19. ↑ Sundell, Ivy (2000). Art scene Chicago 2000. Internet Archive. Evanston, IL : Crow Woods Pub. pp. 54–55. ISBN 978-0-9665871-6-6.
  20. ↑ "Thomas H. Kapsalis: Eight Decades". corbettvsdempsey.com. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  21. ↑ "Thomas Kapsalis Black + White, etc". corbettvsdempsey.com. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  22. ↑ Kapsalis Thomas H et al. Thomas H. Kapsalis : Artist's House : Paintings & Sculpture 1947-2008. Corbett vs. Dempsey 2009.
  23. ↑ "Luminous Ground: Artists With Histories--Illinois State Museum". www.museum.state.il.us. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  24. ↑ Stienstra, Anita. "Masters of art". Illinois Times. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  25. ↑ "Review: Thomas Kapsalis/Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art | Newcity Art". 2013-07-02. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  26. ↑ "Chicago's Artistic Voices of the 1950s and '60s Focus of New Exhibition". WTTW News. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  27. ↑ "Chicago Connection". UIMA. 31 July 2015. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  28. ↑ "Thomas H. Kapsalis: Eight Decades". corbettvsdempsey.com. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  29. ↑ "Eleven or K, Thomas Kapsalis ^ Minneapolis Institute of Art". collections.artsmia.org. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
  30. ↑ "Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art | Chicago Studies | The University of Chicago". chicagostudies.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 2023-01-09.
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